Tuesday 14 February 2012

Top 5 regrets of the dying

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/feb/01/top-five-regrets-of-the-dying

The above article was forwarded to me by Mark Blunt, Jasper’s franchisee for Manchester, and it is a thought provoking read.

If only we could bottle the feelings and thoughts of the dying to inspire us to live with less fear.

For now though, I want to comment on the ‘I wish I had not worked so hard’ regret. I wish I could have asked all these people ‘What do you mean?’ when they said this. I am going to assume that they really meant they wish they hadn't done so much ‘stuff’ that felt like work. The reality is that what you do in exchange for money is only ‘work’, in the negative sense, if you don’t wake up wanting to do it every day.

I have met so many entrepreneurs and business owners that feel stressed, start early and finish late yet simply don’t see what they do as ‘work’. They are on a mission, they are fuelled with a desire to do more, and the truth be told they literally love what they do.

The late and great Jimmy Saville, when asked where he finds the time to do so much charity work, replied ‘Well now that I don’t work, I have a lot more time’ – he said this when he still presented a Radio One show, hosted Jim’ll Fix it and Top of the Pops!

We should all take note that before we die, we need to appreciate what we do, what we have, and love it - if we don't, we should change it. After all, there are millions of people just down the road from you (in a cemetery) that given the chance would love to work harder than they ever did –  at something they love!

Do what you want to do, do more of it, do it well and the chance to earn a living from it will follow.

Nathan Siekierski
Director, Jasper's Catering Franchise Ltd
http://www.jaspers-franchise.co.uk/